Haas boss Steiner backs Verstappen: 'You shouldn't take anything away from him!'
F1 News
Haas had a disastrous season in 2023: finished last in the constructors' standings, with cars that seemed to be running backwards during Grands Prix. Only 12 points were picked up by team boss Guenther Steiner's men during the 22 Grand Prix weekends, a number that is in stark contrast to Max Verstappen's points tally. The world champion finished the season with 575 points.
Verstappen was in a class of his own in '23. Truly all his competitors were biting at his speed, resulting in no less than 19 victories for the Dutchman. Not always exciting for the neutral viewer, but surely Steiner does not want artificial measures to stop Verstappen, he told Ziggo Sport.
Steiner calls on other teams to do better
"You can never blame the winner, that he is too good. I’m a big believer that’s not right," explained Steiner. "[If] somebody else is better thank you, don’t blame him that he is good. I mean you shouldn’t take anything away from him, you need to get yourself in there."
Steiner would love to see his Haas become a challenger to Verstappen, but the cult hero is a realist: "We have different goals. I mean, we need to go back to the midfield, that is our goal. Our goal is not to beat Max. I mean it cannot be that, that would be unrealistic. It’s like… I think that’s more like a question in general, if somebody is dominating this match, 'Is it good for the championship?'"
The team boss does think that in time, teams will come close to Verstappen and his Red Bull Racing. "there’s a lot of teams around which have got the same capabilities and the same infrastructure, the same amount of people like Red Bull. And obviously, it is not us at the moment, we still have some time before we get there, but there are some teams around and I think that they can actually do it as well. So it isn’t said that now that this domination keeps going on forever," Steiner concluded.